It's a Dog's Life
by Britani Gael
Summary: Jounouchi wakes up to begin the first day of the rest of his life…only to discover that he really doesn’t exist at all. No one remembers him, few can see him…what’s our favorite makeinu to do?


Title: It's a Dog's Life

Authors: Britani Gael and super-saiyan-monkey

Rating: PG

Summary: Jounouchi wakes up to begin the first day of the rest of his life…only to discover that he really doesn't exist at all.  No one remembers him, few can see him…what's our favorite makeinu to do?

Author's Notes: Title credit to Ohseki Ayu (who gets a lot of credit in my stories.  I'm beginning to think I'm unoriginal).  This story is not actually mine, I get to post it because I have fewer stories (and reviews) than my friend, super-saiyan-monkey.  The first chapter is mostly hers. 

Disclaimer: We don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, we don't claim we do, nor do we imagine that we do.  Thus we continue our shameless copyright infringement with a clean conscience.

~~~~~

Jounouchi Katsuya moaned as he rolled over to his side. He started sitting up, yawning loudly as stretching his arms up.  Tired…

He threw his body back down on the ground, and yelled in pain as he sat back up, realizing that he wasn't in his bed. His eyes widened as he got up, he might not be able to see, but he could tell the difference between his pajama and his school uniform.

Uh, where the hell was he?

Jounouchi started walking around on the floor, hoping to figure out where he was

"Hello?"

He stopped abruptly when he ran face-first into a wall.  "Damnit!"  He rubbed his nose as he started to feel around. 

"Someone could at least turn the damn lights on," he muttered, not quite sure who he was referring too.  Didn't matter, really, any help would've been appreciated.

Someone was listening.  The lights clicked on, the brightness making Jounouchi wince.

Jounouchi looked around; he was at a Duel Monster arena? Just then, a tall boy with a scowl on his face walked into the room.

Okay.  Any help but _him._

"Who are you?" Kaiba Seto snapped.

Jounouchi rolled his eyes and sighed.  "You know who I am, Kaiba. I'm not in the mood."

Kaiba stepped back, shaking his head.  "No, I-I don't.  Get out of here."

Jounouchi blinked at Kaiba in confusion.  Kaiba, nervous?  Kaiba, unsure?  What the hell was going on here?  "What do you mean? I sit in front of you at school…"

Kaiba started laughing.  "I sit in back of that short kid."

"Yuugi?"

Kaiba sighed.  "I don't care."  He wasn't even looking at Jounouchi anymore, instead focusing on an area over Jounouchi's shoulder, and was looking slightly dazed.

Jounouchi was lost, what the hell was Kaiba talking about? "Kaiba, you okay?"

Seto snapped out of it, and glared at Jounouchi.  "How the hell would you know?  Get the fuck out of my arena!  Now!"

Jounouchi opened his mouth to make an argument, then snapped it shut again.  He _was_ at a Duel Monsters arena, and Kaiba _was_ here, and that right there was a good case for the fact that he was standing in Kaiba Land.  Though how he'd give a lot to know how he had gotten there.

Another idea came to him, and Jounouchi narrowed his eyes.

Kaiba not remembering him?  Waking up right in the middle of Kaiba Land?  Jounouchi smelled a prank, though prank probably wasn't the right word for something Kaiba would do.  More like sick and elaborate plan to get Jounouchi to, once again, humiliate himself.

Well, he wasn't going to fall for it.

Kaiba had gone all spacey again, and Jounouchi didn't feel the need to bid him good-bye.  He stalked out of the room, past Kaiba without a word.

Kaiba grabbed his arm.

Jounouchi tried to jerk away, and failed.  "Kaiba, what the hell are you doing?"

"You know Yuugi?" Kaiba asked, his voice low.

Jounouchi still tried to pull away.  "Know him?  'Course I know him, he's my best friend!"

Kaiba let go of him.  

Jounouchi was only a little surprised when he ended up on his back on the floor, and more than a little annoyed when he realized that he had gotten there by himself, trying to yank himself away when no one was holding him.

"What are you _doing?" Jounouchi shouted, scrambling to his feet._

"Yuugi…" Kaiba stopped, looking the other way.  
  
Jounouchi got back up, looking Kaiba in the eye. He looked scared.  
  
"Wha…what about Yuugi?"  
  
Kaiba turned around and started walking away, not looking back.

It was about a minute, or two, before Jounouchi could pick his jaw up off the floor and stumble away from the arena.  He was indeed in Kaiba Land, he found, as he walked through the halls, vaguely wondering why Kaiba was just letting him walk out of there.

All the doors were locked but one of the side ones, which was propped open, and Jounouchi figured it must've been pretty late, or pretty early.  He had no real idea of what time it was, he just knew it was time that should probably be spent sleeping.

He made it outside, noticing with irritation that it was raining out.  The sky was brightening, it was nearly dawn, but no one was on the streets.  Sighing, he pulled his jacket tighter around himself, and stepped out into the street.

So, where to from here?  It was an awful long way back home, that was for sure, and then all he could do there would be sitting in his room, waiting for school to start.  He had just _appeared in Kaiba Land this morning, and that wasn't exactly normal._

Yuugi could help him figure that out…

That's right.  He could stay at Yuugi's house until school started, Yuugi wouldn't mind.  He was already in his uniform, and his homework…well, his homework didn't really matter, did it?

He made it to the Turtle Game shop in five minutes, only to find that the doors were locked.  He went around back, and found the same thing.  He thought about knocking, but he didn't want to wake anyone up.  So he did the next best thing: he climbed through an open window.

Technically, that wasn't breaking, but it was definitely entering.  He had debated about it for a few minutes before he did it, finally decided that it was raining outside, and he really didn't want to wake any of them up.  Yuugi's family would understand.

He hoped.

The shop was dark; Jounouchi stumbled through it, before he managed to find the living room.  He didn't bother turning on any of the lights, again, he didn't want to wake anyone.  He just wanted to find the couch and grab a few hours sleep.

"Please, no."

Jounouchi stopped in his tracks.  The voice…it was Yuugi's, definitely.  And it was coming from upstairs.

Jounouchi made for the stairs as quick as he could manage, and almost killed himself twice trying to get up them.  When he got to the top, he saw an open doorway down the hall, with a dim light inside.  If memory served, that was Yuugi's room.  He walked towards it, and leaned his head in.  "Yuugi?"

Yuugi was sound asleep on his bed, though he hardly looked peaceful.  His expression looked pained, and he was turning slightly in his sleep.  The Millennium Puzzle was sitting on the table by his bed.

"I have no money," Yuugi whispered, barely loud enough for Jounouchi to hear.

A nightmare?  About bullying?  Jounouchi had thought that that problem had ended a long time ago…but now that he looked, he could see a few scrapes on Yuugi's cheek, a bruise around his eye.  Yuugi had been beaten, and recently.

Jounouchi felt the anger start to build.  Whoever it had been, they would pay.  He would see to that.

Yuugi stopped moving, and stopped talking.  Then the Millennium Puzzle started glowing.

The one who sat up wasn't Yuugi, it was the other Yuugi.  Jounouchi couldn't help but notice that the Game King looked rather ridiculous in Yuugi's pajamas.

"Who are you?" the other Yuugi snapped.

Jounouchi blinked.  "What?"

"Who are you?  What are you doing here?"  The other Yuugi got up off the bed, and his expression got even darker, if that was possible.  

"I, I…Yuugi, you remember me, don't you?"

Yuugi looked at Jounouchi for a few seconds, and the look he was giving him was almost enough to make Jounouchi afraid of him, which was a feeling he had never gotten around the other Yuugi.

"Yuugi?"

"I don't know you," Yuugi said slowly.  "Nor do I wish to.  I don't know how you got in here, but—"

"Come on, Yuugi!" Jounouchi shouted.  What the fuck?  This was, was….wrong, that's what it was.  "You can't possibly—"

"Get.  Out."  Yuugi said, looking murderous.  

Jounouchi almost did was he asked, but this was just far too weird.  This was the second time he had gotten this today, but he expected it from Kaiba.  But Yuugi?  No way Kaiba  could have arranged this.  This was like an episode of the Twilight Zone or something.

"What's the matter with you, Yuugi?" Jounouchi asked, his voice almost pleading.

Yuugi opened his mouth, shut it.  He stared at Jounouchi for about a minute more, before asking, "Who are you?"

Jounouchi tried to wrap his mind around this new turn of events.  He wasn't succeeding very well.  "My name is Jounouchi Katsuya.  I'm not going to hurt Yuugi.  I wouldn't."

The shock on the other Yuugi's face was only there for about half a second.  Jounouchi realized that the surprise was because, as far as the other Yuugi was concerned, there was no way for Jounouchi to know that he _wasn't_ Yuugi.

"How did you know that?" Yuugi asked slowly.

"I _know you.  You're my best friend, damnit!  Why don't you remember me?"_

The other Yuugi sat down on the bed, looking more confused than anything else.  He didn't say anything, but seemed to be thinking.  "I don't think you'll hurt Yuugi," he said, at last.

Jounouchi sighed.  "You don't believe me, do you?"

"I don't know who you are," the other Yuugi said.

"Yeah, we covered that," Jounouchi said, not bothering to hide his irritation.  "You don't know me, Kaiba doesn't know me, I'm about ready to just—"

Yuugi stood up again.  "You know Kaiba?"

Jounouchi closed his eyes, breathing hard.  This wasn't happening, wasn't happening, was not happening—

He opened his eyes again.  The other Yuugi was staring at him.

"Of course I know Kaiba!  How could I not know Kaiba?"

The other Yuugi glared again, but this time it was apparent that it wasn't directed at Jounouchi.  "Then you know that he…"

Jounouchi waited for him to finish his sentence.  For about two minutes.  "That he what?"

"Yuugi's waking up," the other Yuugi said.  

"Wait a second," Jounouchi started.

The Puzzle flashed for a second, and the other Yuugi was gone.  Yuugi was sitting there, wide eyes, and looking a bit bewildered, probably at waking up where he didn't expect.  Jounouchi could sympathize.

"What were you doing?" Yuugi asked.  

Jounouchi knew he wasn't talking to him.  Yuugi had yet to look at him, and Jounouchi was a bit curious about what Yuugi's reaction would be like.  Maybe Yuugi would remember him…

Yuugi looked up, then, staring right at Jounouchi, and Jounouchi got the strange feeling that Yuugi was looking through him, rather than at him.

Then Yuugi shook his head.  "No, I don't see anyone."

~~~~~


End file.
